Most operating systems offer a screen rotation option to help you set up an external monitor. This can go badly wrong when a user accidentally enables it on the main display, flipping the screen upside down or rotating it sideways. Learn how to fix the problem using shortcuts or menu options.

Quick Fix

Steps

Method1

Windows

1

Press ctrl, alt, and a direction key. Some graphics cards assign the hotkey Ctrl + Alt + ↓ to flip the screen upside down. To reverse this, press Ctrl + Alt + ↑. Use the same key combination with ← or → to reverse a screen flipped right or left.

Click the Orientation drop-down menu and change it to Portrait or Landscape, depending on your monitor setup.

Click Apply to rotate your screen back to normal.

3

Access your graphics card options. If nothing else works, you may need to access your graphics card settings. Depending on which card you have, you may find this under Graphics Options, Graphics Properties, Nvidia Control Panel, Catalyst Control Center, or Intel Control Center. You can either locate this using the search bar, or (usually) right-click your Desktop and select it from the drop-down menu.

4

Change the rotation setting. There is no standard menu arrangement in graphics card menus, so you may need to search a little. On some graphics cards, the "Rotation" or "Orientation" setting is in the Displays Manager menu.

You may need to select "advanced options" to find this setting.

If you're not sure why your screen rotated, you may have accidentally pressed a keyboard shortcut. Look for a Hotkeys menu item and disable it.

Method2

Mac

1

Hold down command and option. Press and hold ⌘ Command and ⌥ Option. Continue holding these keys down for the rest of this process.

If you are using a Windows keyboard with your Mac, hold down Ctrl + Alt instead.

2

Open System Preferences. Click the apple symbol in the top left corner of your screen. Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.

If System Preferences was already open, you may need to quit and relaunch it while pressing the keys.

3

Go to the Display settings. Click Display. Continue to press both keys.

If you have multiple displays, select the problem monitor in the list of options before you continue.

4

Change the rotation settings. Holding down these keys unlocks the rotation options in the Display settings. Select Standard from the Rotation drop-down menu to return to the default display.[4]

If no Rotation option appears, your hardware does not support Apple's built-in rotation settings. Check your Applications folder for third-party software that may have rotated your screen.

Community Q&A

If there's an icon of a padlock encircled by an arrow on your status bar, Orientation Lock is on. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open Control Center, then tap that same icon to turn it off. The Display Zoom setting can also prevent your home screen from rotating; turn it off at Settings → Display & Brightness → View.